A SCHOOL caretaker from Guildford has been jailed for 15 years after being found guilty of raping and molesting girls as young as five.

Marco Aguilar, who worked at George Abbot School in Burpham, was convicted of raping two of the girls and sexually assaulting a third.

Aguilar, 48, also known as Aguilar Jaramillo, from Highclere, was sentenced on Tuesday at Guildford Crown Court, where prosecuting barrister Wayne Cleaver said that the families of the victims had been left traumatised by the attacks.

He said: “They no longer feel able to trust people with their young children and they refer to the deviousness of Mr Jaramillo and the effect that it has had both on the girls themselves and the families as a whole.”

Aguilar had pleaded not guilty to all six charges at his trial in October, when the court heard that he preyed on the three girls while they were at his house, and went on to rape two of them in the toilet.

The attacks were reported to the police in December 2009.

Sentencing Aguilar, Judge Susan Matthews confirmed that his actions had a far-reaching impact not just on the girls but their families too.

She said: “You should be under no illusions that your evil and selfish decisions to meet your own sexual desires is seen by ordinary decent people as sickening, and that requires substantial punishment.

“I find it striking that these offences took place under the noses of your own wife and the parents of these children.

“That has led me to form a view that they were committed by you with increasing confidence and considerable cunning, which are factors which I have taken into consideration when assessing the dangers. The offending was blatant.”

Continued denial

The court heard that Aguilar is originally from Ecuador, where he used to work as an accountant and has four children there from previous relationships.

Judge Matthews said that he moved to England in 1997, adding that he "later worked as a caretaker at George Abbot, and at the Methodist Church in Guildford for two years".

Aguilar, who went on to marry his current wife, first started molesting one of the girls in the summer of 2007 and continued the attacks until December 2009.

The judge said: “You became good friends of the girls’ families, and across the board they said how they had no concerns with their girls playing in your home.

“As they explained in their evidence, you appeared to be a loving husband and a man about whose character they had no reservations.

“They also trusted you with your employment at the school, coming into contact with other children, older children. None of the victims in this case went to that school.”

Judge Matthews read out a report on an assessment of Aguilar, which stated that he continued to deny that he had committed the offences or had any sexual attraction to children.

This, the report went on to say, made it difficult to engage with Aguilar in any kind of intervention to help him tackle his behaviour.

The report continued: “He shows limited, if any, understanding of the impact on the victims.

“Instead he made disparaging comments about the children and made it clear he did not view them as victims.”

"Wrong and horrible"

Judge Matthews reprimanded Aguilar for gesticulating at the parents of the victims while she was sentencing him.

She continued: “You lost your best mitigation by failing to acknowledge your wrongdoing.”

Aguilar was sentenced to 15 years for the two counts of rape, and seven years to run concurrently for the sexual assault offences.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register and was given a sexual offences prevention order for an indefinite period.

Judge Matthews concluded: “You did something that was very wrong and horrible, and you will serve that sentence and think about that every day.”

Following sentencing, Surrey Police's Detective Inspector Jo Hayes said: “Aguilar befriended and took advantage of very young, impressionable people and I am glad to see this predatory offender behind bars.

“These crimes have had a significant impact on the lives of the victims and their families and I hope this outcome will help them come to terms with their traumatic experiences.

“We will always listen to anyone who brings such offences to our attention and I would particularly like to thank the victims for their bravery and courage which has enabled us to bring this insidious sex offender to justice.”